BILL ANALYSIS
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1500
Author: Lieu (D)
Amended: 7/14/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMM : 9-1, 7/7/09
AYES: Lowenthal, Ashburn, DeSaulnier, Harman,
Hollingsworth, Kehoe, Pavley, Simitian, Wolk
NOES: Huff
NO VOTE RECORDED: Oropeza
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 46-31, 6/3/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : High-occupancy lanes: low-emission vehicles
SOURCE : California Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition
DIGEST : This bill extends the sunset date, from January
1, 2011 to January 1, 2014, on the law that allows certain
low-emission vehicles to access High-occupancy vehicle
(HOV) lanes.
ANALYSIS : In 1999, the Legislature passed and the
governor signed AB 71 (Cunneen), Chapter 330, to allow the
following low-emission vehicles to access HOV lanes,
regardless of vehicle occupancy:
1.A vehicle that meets the state's super ultra-low emission
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vehicle (SULEV) standard for exhaust emissions and the
federal inherently low-emission vehicle (ILEV) standard
for evaporative emissions (e.g., all-electric vehicles
such as Tesla or the RAV 4 EV).
2.A vehicle that was produced during the 2004 model year or
earlier that meets the state's ultra-low emission vehicle
(ULEV) standard for exhaust emissions and the federal
ILEV standard (e.g., Honda Civic CNG).
To differentiate these vehicles, the Department of Motor
Vehicles (DMV) issues white stickers to be affixed on the
vehicle. There is no limit on the number of these vehicles
that may be issued white stickers. To date, DMV has issued
9,099 sets of white stickers. White-stickered vehicles are
eligible for free or reduce-passage toll rates on Bay Area
toll bridges, regardless of their occupancy, if those rates
are offered to high-occupancy vehicles.
In 2004, AB 2628 (Pavley), Chapter 725, allowed the
following hybrid vehicles to access HOV lanes, pending
approval by the federal government:
1.A hybrid vehicle or an alternative fuel vehicle that
meets the state's advanced technology partial
zero-emission standard (AT PZEV) standard for criteria
pollutant emissions and has a 45 miles per gallon (mpg)
or greater fuel economy highway rating.
2.A hybrid vehicle that was produced during the 2004 model
year or earlier that has a 45 mpg or greater fuel economy
highway rating and meets the state's ULEV, SULEV, or
partial zero-emission vehicle (PZEV) standards.
The DMV issues these vehicles yellow stickers. The number
of vehicles that may be issued yellow stickers was
ultimately capped at 85,000, a limit which was reached in
2007. Yellow-stickered vehicles are not eligible for free
or reduced-passage toll rates on Bay Area toll bridges.
The authority to access HOV lanes expires for all four
types of vehicles on January 1, 2011.
Existing law requires the California Department of
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Transportation (Caltrans) to assess, according to a
specified timeframe, whether HOV lanes have experienced
significant degradation due to access by hybrid vehicles
with yellow stickers. Caltrans is authorized to restrict
single-occupant vehicles with either white or yellow
stickers from accessing segments of HOV lanes during
periods of peak congestion if it finds that the lane has a
specified level of service, the operation of these vehicles
will significantly increase congestion, and it is not
feasible to alleviate congestion by other means.
This bill extends the sunset date, from January 1, 2011 to
January 1, 2014, on the law that requires DMV to issue
white stickers to eligible vehicles so that those vehicles
may access HOV lanes.
Background
The Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) granted
conditional approval to allow hybrid vehicles in HOV lanes,
as authorized by AB 2628 (Pavley), in April 2006. FHWA
required Caltrans to monitor and report on the performance
of HOV lanes and to take steps to address degradation
(i.e., congestion), if necessary.
In July 2006, after 50,000 yellow stickers were issued to
hybrid vehicles under the program, Caltrans assessed
congestion in the HOV lanes using both the state and
federal standards of performance. Under the state
standard, Caltrans found that the number of congested HOV
lane segments increased from 7 to 12 percent. Under the
federal standard, Caltrans found that approximately 46
percent of HOV lane segments operated under degraded
conditions. While the increased congestion could not be
attributed solely to single-occupant hybrid vehicles
accessing the lanes, FHWA nonetheless asserted that these
vehicles did not have to be the cause of degradation for
Caltrans to take action to reduce HOV lane congestion and
requested that Caltrans develop a plan for improving the
performance of HOV lanes.
Caltrans submitted the "California High Occupancy Vehicle
Lane Degradation Reduction Plan" to FHWA in August 2007.
The plan outlines short- and long-term measures to improve
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HOV lane performance, including increased enforcement,
improved system management, infrastructure improvements,
public education, and, if necessary, a prohibition of
single-occupant hybrid vehicles from accessing the most
congested segments of the HOV-lane network.
Following the submittal of that plan, Caltrans updated its
analysis of HOV lane degradation and submitted a
supplemental report to FHWA in September 2008. This
updated analysis found that, based on the federal standard,
congestion increased on HOV lanes from 46 percent to 54
percent. Given the growth in both population and number of
registered vehicles, degradation is only likely to worsen.
There is much activity occurring with regard to allowing
low-emission vehicles to access HOV lanes. Federal law
governing HOV lane access is contained in the
transportation act known as SAFETEA-LU, which is set to
expire on September 30th of this year. A draft of the new
federal transportation bill has just been released and it
extends the current access provisions until September 30,
2015. Air quality experts consider the federal ILEV
standard outdated, and it is conceivable that the emission
standard applicable for HOV lane access may change as the
bill is marked up and moves through Congress.
Regardless of whether there is a change to the federal
standard, California's current standard for allowing
hybrids to access HOV lanes is out of sync with the federal
law and the United States Environmental Protection Agency
has urged Caltrans and the California Air Resources Board
to better align its standards with those established in
federal law.
Finally, in addition to General Motors, Ford and Toyota
have been pursuing their own proposals to incentivize
specific vehicles by providing HOV lane access. Vehicle
technologies are undergoing rapid change and increasingly
cleaner vehicles will become available in the coming years.
Related Legislation
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SB 535 (Yee), in its current form, extends the sunset date,
from January 1, 2011 to January 1, 2015, to allow certain
low-emission vehicles to use HOV lanes, regardless of
vehicle occupancy, but maintains the January 1, 2011 sunset
date for hybrid vehicles.
AB 1502 (Eng) extends the sunset date, from January 1, 2011
to January 1, 2017, to allow certain low-emission vehicles
to use HOV lanes, regardless of vehicle occupancy, but
maintains the January 1, 2011 sunset date for hybrid
vehicles.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/17/09)
California Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition (source)
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/17/09)
Alameda County Congestion Management Agency
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
access to HOV lanes by single-occupancy vehicles that meet
the federal ILEV standard is an effective way to encourage
the purchase and lease of low-polluting alternative fuel
vehicles, particularly in heavily urbanized areas where air
pollution tends to be the worst and traffic congestion is
greatest. The state thus achieves two important and
complementary goals: to reduce vehicular air pollution and
reduce petroleum consumption.
Approximately 25,000 CNG vehicles operate in California,
owned by individuals, local governments, and private fleets
such as taxi cabs and shuttle vans. Single-occupancy
access to HOV lanes is a strong non-monetary incentive for
the purchase of low emission, alternative fuel vehicles.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Blumenfield, Brownley,
Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro,
Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, Eng, Evans, Feuer,
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Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Hall, Hayashi,
Hernandez, Hill, Huffman, Jones, Krekorian, Lieu, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Monning, Nava, John A. Perez, V.
Manuel Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana,
Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Bass
NOES: Adams, Anderson, Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill,
Blakeslee, Conway, Cook, DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson,
Fletcher, Fuller, Gaines, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman,
Harkey, Huber, Jeffries, Knight, Logue, Miller, Nestande,
Niello, Nielsen, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Audra Strickland,
Tran, Villines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Block, Solorio, Yamada
JA:nl 8/18/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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